News and AnalysIs for

The USO is back from vacation as well and so things heated up. Perhaps the biggest news is of labor strife at the country’s largest coal mine Cerrejon, news which also made the national media. It is news (and relevant for us to report although not strictly about oil and gas) because Cerrejon has always been an exemplary company with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility program and so having labor strife is a surprise.

Incidents were up 47% this week to 50, a level not seen since late November. This sent our 4-week Moving Average up 20% and it now sits at 33 incidents per week although still down from a peak of 58 back in October.

In an earlier article, we presented MinAmbiente’s plan to reform the regional water management authorities known as CARs. This MinAmbiente press release says the timetable for congressional approval will depend on the prior consultation period. It is remarkable to see the Ministry thought a separate press release was necessary even though the need for prior consultation was mentioned in the original press release. We think it relevant because MinAmbiente and the Interior Ministry are planning new prior consultation legislation in the next congressional session (which runs from March to July). These activities and press releases are part of a socialization process to get the legislation through Congress more easily. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

National business newspaper Portafolio reports that the companies Abocol, Compas and Saam will partner to invest US$45M in the Buenavista Port of Cartagena. The port, which has a capacity of 8,000 metric tons of cargo, is currently under the administration of Puerto Buenavista SA. The investment will be used to expand the wharf of 211 meters long, to improve infrastructure and to provide it with equipment to improve its performance quality.

Frequent readers of our monthly report will be familiar with our challenges in getting timely, consistent information from the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA).

The CARs are the regional autonomous corporations that manage water resources regionally. Organized by watershed, they historically have been inefficient, under-resourced for their mandate and in many cases corrupt. Despite this, the Environment and Sustainable Development Ministry wants to give them a clearer mandate and better resources. The National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA) has a pilot program to delegate responsibility for some areas to the CARs. Here MinAmbiente announces the timetable for bringing reforms to Congress. From an MinAmbiente press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

This is the latest in a steam of announcements by the state-owned oil company about new patents coming out of their R&D group. From an Ecopetrol press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Finance Minister (MinHacienda) Mauricio Cardenas spoke to the Morgan stanley Latin America Executive Conference in Miami, recapping the country’s macroeconomic progress over the past years. From a MinHacienda press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Source: Campetrol, Hydrocarbons Colombia
This graph shows the latest data published by the Colombian Petroleum Services Association (Campetrol) from 2011 which is the last full year for which data is available from the Colombian company regulator SuperSociedades. These companies are registered in standard industry code (CIIU) C1120 which is defined as “SERVICE ACTIVITIES. RELATING TO OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION, EXCLUDING SURVEYING” Twenty-five firms or 16% of the companies studied comprise 80% of industry revenues. The Top 5 include industry heavyweights like Schlumberger, Haliburton, Weatherford and Baker Hughes. But there is a very long tail of 134 companies with average 2011 revenue of US$7.8M. (Twenty-eight firms have no data and so were excluded.) The bottom 50% of firms (80 companies) have average revenues of US$1M.

The Colombian Association of Natural Gas (Naturgas) is making a significant contribution to the government’s housing program. The plan is to build 100,000 low-income houses as part of broader program to increase home ownership. The companies will contribute just under US$12M, mostly through discounted infrastructure but also through a program to give away gas stoves. From a Naturgas press release, translated, extracted and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.